Minus Eighteen
Minus Eighteen, also known as –18, and often stylized as minus.eighteen, is an American rock band active since 2004, currently consisting of lead vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Sean Fullerway and drummer Ryan Deckerman. They achieved mainstream success in 2005 with the release of minus.eighteen, which was eventually certified 3x Platinum in the United States. Their popularity increased with subsequent releases. Minus Eighteen formed in 2004 as a four-piece band, with lead guitarist Chris Rivert and rhythm guitarist Aaron Summers, but in October 2004, Summers left the band due to arguments between him and Rivert and Deckerman, and so Minus Eighteen downsized to a three-piece band. In June 2006, after their first major tour, he decided to leave in order to complete high school/college and subsequently "live a normal life", despite Fullerway and Deckerman's discontent in his decision. The same month, however, Minus Eighteen hired Nonsense musician Brent Villeton to replace him, but Villeton left in January 2007 due to his unhappiness with his position in the band. Afterwards, in 2007, Fullerway and Deckerman publically announced they had decided not to hire a new guitarist, after having three (Summers, Rivert, and Villeton) leave the band in the past two and a half years, and performed, wrote, and recorded as a two-piece band for Minus Eighteen's second album, Sophomore Release (2007). In 2009, for the EP, Unplugged, which covered several of their hit songs and also featured the new, popular single, "Live It Up", former guitarist Rivert returned briefly for the EP and for a mini-tour which spanned two months from October–December 2009. He left again directly after the tour ended on December 19, 2009. To date, Minus Eighteen has sold around 12 million albums in the US and around 35 million albums worldwide. History 2003–04: Beginnings In late 2003, at the age of fourteen, Sean Fullerway had recently left a local band, Pictures of Nothing, in Miami, FL, Pictures of Nothing due to having to move to Los Angeles, CA, and that resulted in meeting Ryan Deckerman at FFLQDF High School, who was already friends with lead guitarist Chris Rivert and rhythm guitarist Aaron Summers and had been considering starting a band. Due to common musical interests, Deckerman and Rivert befriended and jammed with Fullerway for, often, hours a day, for several months, and by February 2004, they said they'd "officially decided to be a band". They subsequently began to perform locally under the name "Minus Eighteen". 2004–06: minus.eighteen & lineup changes By the time school let out in May 2004, Minus Eighteen had attracted a relatively large fan base, particularly through performing and self-advertising online. Over the summer, while steadily/quickly growing in popularity, the band decided to write material for an album, and subsequently decided to search for a record label signing. By July 2004, they signed with HFG Records, after getting rejected by several other labels over the preceding few months. The album was produced/recorded from August–November; it turned out to be a more appealing version of the songs Minus Eighteen covered during the first half of the year, reviewers later deeming it "pop punk accompanied by more depressing, cleaned-up tracks". The first single was released September 30, 2004, titled "Didn't Think It Through", a few weeks before Summers left the band in October 2004 and joined Plan C, after an ongoing argument with Deckerman and Rivert. Though "Didn't Think It Through" was a sleeper hit, the song eventually peaked at #3 on the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks and #88 on the Billboard Hot 100. A follow up single was released in November 2004, titled "Hungover", with an announcement for the album's release date, May 2005. "Hungover" was not as successful as its predecessor, only managing #37 on the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks and missing the Hot 100 completely. Minus Eighteen's album, minus.eighteen, released December 22, 2004, peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200 and went on to be certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA, and eventually was considered a classic in modern rock music. A third single was released in March 2005, "Of Course", in order to present a more "serious side" of the album. The song was a huge hit, debuting at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April and peaking at #27 by June 2005, selling over 500,000 copies across the United States. A fourth single from the album, "All Nighter", was released in July 2005, and peaked at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was considered another hit for them. A fifth single, "Who Cares", was released to rock and mainstream radio in October 2005, though it was ultimately unsuccessful chart-wise. The sixth and final single, "Moving On", released in February 2006, was another mainstream hit for them, peaking at #33 on the Hot 100 (though it took until the summer of '06 for it to peak at #33) as they bordered mainstream popularity with the result of a nationwide tour across the US from 2005–06. After touring, in June 2006, vocalist/guitarist Rivert announced he would be leaving the band, stating, "I never really thought this would go anywhere, and after not seeing my friends or family for the passed year, I'm starting to wish I'd never dropped out of school to go touring. I just don't feel like being in a band is right for me right now." Sure enough, on June 12, 2006, he played his last show with Minus Eighteen, and the other two members, Deckerman and Fullerway, responded, "We thought about disbanding, but we ultimately decided we should go on...." 2006–07: EP They auditioned for a guitarist through the rest of June, and at the end of the month, decided on lead singer/guitarist of Nonsense, Brent Villeton. Though it was unknown at the time, Minus Eighteen recorded an EP from July-September 2006 with Villeton on lead vocals and bass, and announced the release of the sarcastically titled Demo to be released in November or December 2006. The first single was released September 16, 2006 titled "Oh, Cry Me One", referencing the popular phrase cry me a river; the single peaked at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100, certifying Gold. "Oh, Cry Me One" featured vocals by Villeton, who sang the second and third verses. Demo was released November 20, 2006 and debuted on the Billboard 200 at #8, eventually certifying 2x Platinum by the RIAA. A second and final single, titled "The Show", was released January 2, 2007, and missed the charts completely. This song was very controversial, in that since there was no percussion and instead featured only an electronically added acoustic guitar and Villeton's vocals; Fullerway and Deckerman both had no involvement in the production/recording of the song. On January 9, 2007, one week after "The Show" was released as a single, the two of them confronted Villeton about the song's release as a single, stating that they felt Villeton was attempting to "own the band", and that he was "controlling the band's direction", and he reacted negatively, officially leaving the band, saying that Fullerway and Deckerman were "selfish jackasses". After acknowledging that they would perform as a duo for "at least a short while", Minus Eighteen did a mini-tour for EP that lasted about three months, from December 2006-March 2007, mostly without Villeton. 2007–09: Sophomore Release & Unplugged In March 2007, Fullerway and Deckerman released a YouTube video stating they were entering the studio and beginning to record their second album, which would be with just the two of them this time, with Fullerway, who had played bass guitar, taking up lead/rhythm guitar as well. The recording process lasted until June 2007, and scheduling for the album's release ensued, and the lead single, "Last Night", was released in May 2007, while the album was still being recorded. The song was a big hit for them, peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and certifying Platinum in the US. The second single from the album, "Rock 'n' Roll", was released in July 2007, and debuted at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at #44 a few weeks later, certifying Gold by the RIAA. The album, sarcastically titled Sophomore Release was released on September 9, 2007, and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, eventually certifying 2x Platinum in accordance with the RIAA. A third single, "Time to Break Up", was released on a few weeks after the album, on November 21, 2007. It was their most successful song at the time, peaking at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and certifying 2x Platinum by the RIAA. A fourth and final single, "Wake Up", was released in February 2008 and peaked at #74 on the Billboard Hot 100. A world tour followed, lasting over a year, from October 2007–November 2008. Understandably exhausted from touring, Minus Eighteen announced they would be taking a break from music for a "little while", which turned out to be around six months. In May 2009, Deckerman called up both Brent Villeton and Chris Rivert, who were former band members of the band, and invited them to be involved in the production for their next EP, due for release in fall 2009. While Villeton rejected the offer, Rivert happily agreed, saying he "wouldn't mind playing with them again for a little bit". The EP was recorded from May–July 2009, with the first/only single, "Live It Up", being their first song written/recorded together (with Rivert) since the songs of minus.eighteen, was released in June 2009. The song was successful, reaching #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. The EP, titled Unplugged, in reference to it being marketed/advertised as an acoustic version of several of their hit songs, was released September 30, 2009, and included nine tracks: four of which were tracked 1-4 and included the hits "Of Course", "Moving On", "Last Night", and "Fucking Awesome" in a very electronic fashion, and tracks 5-8 in which were the actual acoustic versions of the EP. The ninth and final track, which was an international bonus track, was "Live It Up", the new song/single. A mini-tour, from October–December 2009, resulted from Unplugged, and Rivert decided he would participate in it, and did so. 2010–present: Follow Up In early 2010, after a short break, and as a duo again, Minus Eighteen began writing material for a third release. An October/November 2010 release date was given for the album. By September 2010, the production for their third studio album was complete, but the release date was pushed back to January 2011. The first single, "Down to Business", was released in September 2010 and debuted/peaked at #105. Their third album, Follow Up, another sarcastic album title by them, was released on February 21, 2011, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, which was their first album to reach #1 in the United States, selling around 375,000 copies in its first week. Follow Up remained at #1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The second single from the album, "(Not) Meant to Be", released December 13, 2010, was ultimately a disappointment, completely missing the Hot 100. The third single from Follow Up, "Waste My Time", was released March 30, 2011, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #52, certifying Gold by the RIAA. A fourth single, titled "If I Wrote You a Love Song", which features American singer Ashlee Parklyn, was released June 1, 2011. The single debuted at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the Hot Shot Debut of the week, and has peaked at #15 so far. The fifth and final single, titled "Classic", is planned for release in August/September 2011. Future Minus Eighteen announced in June 2011 that they would be recording another full-length studio album, tentatively titled Follow Up: Part II, almost back-to-back, through the rest of 2011, and then will go on the extensive Follow Up Tour from 2012–2013. Reception Critics have generally given positive reviews of Minus Eighteen's music. In a 2011 review, Jay Tyler summarized Minus Eighteen's entire career: "Minus Eighteen have steadily gained popularity, with songs like "Of Course" (2005) and "Moving On" (2006), both from Minus Eighteen's debut album, minus.eighteen, managing the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. With "Last Night" (2007) barely missing the Top 20 and "Time to Break Up" (2008) gaining access to it, Minus Eighteen's 2008 album Sophomore Release debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200. In 2011, their newly released song, "If I Wrote You a Love Song", a collaboration between them and Ashlee Parklyn, debuted at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, their highest debut to date. I have a strong feeling Minus Eighteen will go on to accomplish more great things, as their careers are just now taking off." Discography :Main article: Minus Eighteen discography Albums *''minus.eighteen'' (2004) *''Sophomore Release'' (2007) *''Follow Up'' (2011) *''Follow Up: Part II'' (2012) EPs *''EP'' (2006) *''Unplugged'' (2009) Lineup Current *Sean Fullerway — lead vocals, bass, guitar, songwriter (2004–present) *Ryan Deckerman — backing vocals, drums, songwriter (2004–present) Former *Aaron Summers — rhythm guitar (2004) *Chris Rivert — lead vocals, guitar, songwriter (2004–2006, 2009) *Brent Villeton — lead vocals, guitar (2006–2007) Current touring *Zack Johnson — backing vocals, rhythm guitar (2009–present) *Bradley West — backing vocals, bass (2007–present) Former touring *Trevor Baker — backing vocals, rhythm guitar (2007–2009)